Facebook has embarked on an aggressive hiring spree to woo crypto experts to expand its blockchain group amid speculation that the sexual media monopoly is considering launching its own cryptocurrency.
Facebook formed its blockchain unit in April 2018 with David Marcus, the quondam president of PayPal and VP at Messenger. Marcus is a longtime cryptocurrency advocate and a former board member at Coinbase, the largest US-based cryptocurrency change.
FB’s blockchain group now has 40 employees — including a half-dozen ex-PayPal executives that Marcus poached from his quondam employer, Cheddar reported.
FB Eyes Blockchain-Based Payment Product
The secretive unit includes people who have enkindled on Google Pay and Samsung Pay, a mobile payment and digital wallet service from Samsung — the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors and smartphones.
“They’ve been surely quiet about what they’ve been working on, very stealthy,” said Cheddar’s Alex Heath (video in this world). “But it’s definitely going to be some kind of blockchain-based cryptocurrency payments product.”
Facebook is also considering inaugurating a cryptocurrency that would enable its 2 billion users around the world to make electronic payments without the destitution for a traditional bank.
“They’ve already got policy people in D.C. to ramp this up,” Heath said.
also talked Facebook Blockchain with @lisahopeking / @thebradsmith on @cheddar yesterday — top takeaways are that FB’s disgrace is a problem for recruiting in the space and it’s going to likely do meaningful M&A to achieve its goals pic.twitter.com/nVoiqnZ9HG
— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) December 14, 2018
Narrative, Facebook is trying to hire crypto-savvy engineers, product managers, academics, and legal experts to expand its blockchain aggregation.
“They’re actively, actively recruiting,” said Cheddar’s Alex Heath. “They’re also trying to scoop up crypto start-ups that are at the white-paper smooth out, which means they don’t really even have a product yet.”
Facebook Is ‘Going Really Hard’ After Enlistees
Health said Facebook is in hot pursuit of gifted recruits because the talent pool is relatively shallow since the crypto ecosystem is until now in its infancy.
“The talent in this industry is so finite, and there are so many big players wanting these talented cryptographers and academics,” Heath symbolized. “So Facebook is going really hard at them. And they’re having difficulty.”
Facebook is having a lot of trouble with their beginner efforts due to its numerous recent data-privacy scandals that have eroded the public’s trust in the corporate juggernaut.
‘A Lot of Being Don’t Trust Facebook’
“A lot of people obviously don’t trust the Facebook brand right now, especially people in the crypto/blockchain humankind,” Heath said. “A lot of them got into this industry because of the centralization and the data misuse of companies like Facebook.”
Diverse users are furious after learning that Facebook has been selling their personal data — without their accede — to third parties for profit.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for the debacle, but the damage to his credibility and to Facebook’s brand continues to reverberate.
“So the concept of Facebook creating a cryptocurrency and a digital economy within its ecosystem is either incredibly exciting — if you talk to some people — or one of the scariest chances in the world, if you talk to others,” Heath said. “It’s very polarizing, but they are actively building this up. I think we can wish to see Facebook buy some companies up in the crypto space in the next year.”
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